Alesandra let out a little gasp, picked up her skirts, and went running to the front door. Flannaghan let her see the Earl of Hargrave sprawled out on the street before he shut the door.
She whirled around to confront Colin. “Now what am I going to do? I doubt he’ll come back here after the way you tossed him out, Colin.”
“The man insulted you. I can’t allow that.”
“But I need him to answer my questions.”
He shrugged. She threaded her fingers through her hair in an agitated action. She couldn’t decide if she was pleased or pricked at Colin. “What did I do with my list?”
“Which list, Princess?” Flannaghan asked.
“The list of questions I was going to ask Neil.”
She went hurrying back into the salon, bent down, and found the sheet of paper under the settee.
Flannaghan and Colin watched her. “Princess Alesandra is a firm believer in lists, milord,” Flannaghan said.
Colin didn’t make any remark on that bit of information. He frowned at Alesandra when she passed him and went up the steps.
“I won’t allow you to invite Perry back here, Alesandra,” he called out, still burning with irritation over the pompous man’s snide remarks.
“I certainly will invite him back,” she called over her shoulder. “This is as much my home as it is yours while you’re acting as my guardian. I’m determined to find out if Victoria is all right, Colin, and if that means putting up with her horrid brother, then put up with him I will.”
Colin turned to his butler. “Don’t let him in. Understand?”
“Perfectly, milord. It is our duty to protect our princess from slanderers.”
Alesandra had already turned the corner above the stairs and therefore didn’t hear Colin’s order or Flannaghan’s agreement. She was thoroughly weary of men in general and Neil Perry in particular. She decided to put Victoria’s brother out of her mind for the time being. Tomorrow would be soon enough to decide what to do next.
Valena was waiting for her mistress in her bedroom. She and Flannaghan had already moved Alesandra’s things from Colin’s room into the adjoining chamber.
Alesandra sat down on the side of the bed and kicked her shoes off. “It looks as though we’re going to have to stay here a few more days, Valena.”
“Your trunks arrived, Princess. Shall I begin unpacking?”
“Tomorrow’s soon enough. I know it’s still early, but I believe I’ll go to bed now. You needn’t stay to help me.”
Valena left her alone. Alesandra took her time getting ready for bed. She felt quite drained from today’s meetings. Speaking to so many of her father’s friends and hearing the wonderful stories about him made her miss both her father and her mother. Alesandra might have been able to control her mood if Neil hadn’t proven to be such a self-serving, cruel-hearted man. She wanted to shout at the man and tell him he should be thankful he had a mother and a sister to love. Perry wouldn’t understand, or care, she imagined, for he was like so many other people she’d met who took their families for granted.
Alesandra gave in to self-pity within minutes. She didn’t have anyone who truly cared about her. Colin had let it be known she was just a nuisance, and her real guardian, though far more gentle and understanding than his son, probably considered her a nuisance, too.
She wanted her mama. Her memories of family life didn’t comfort her now. They made her ache with her loneliness. She went to bed a few minutes later, hid under the covers, and cried herself to sleep. She awakened in the middle of the night, didn’t feel any better about herself or her circumstances, and, heaven help her, she started weeping again.
Colin heard her. He was also in bed. He couldn’t get to sleep, however. The throbbing in his leg kept him wide awake. Alesandra wasn’t making much noise, but Colin was attuned to every sound in the house. He immediately tossed the covers aside and got out of bed. He was halfway across the chamber before he realized he was stark naked. He put on a pair of pants, reached for the doorknob, and then stopped.
He wanted to comfort her, yet at the same time he knew he would probably be embarrassed because he’d heard her crying. The sounds were muffled, indicating to him she was trying to be as quiet as possible. She didn’t want to be overheard, and he knew he should respect her privacy.
“Hell,” he muttered to himself. He didn’t know his own mind anymore. He wasn’t usually so indecisive. His instincts were telling him to distance himself from Alesandra. She was a complication he wasn’t ready to take on.
He turned around and went back to his own bed. He finally admitted the real truth to himself. He wasn’t just protecting Alesandra from embarrassment. No, he was also protecting her from his own lecherous ideas. She was in bed, probably only wearing a thin nightgown, and, damn it all, if he got close, he knew he would touch her.
Colin gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. If the little innocent next door had any idea what he was thinking, she would have her guards doing sentry duty around her bed.
Lord, he wanted her.
He killed a whore. It had been a mistake. It hadn’t been at all satisfying. The rush of absolute power and excitement were missing. It took him days of reflecting upon the problem before he came up with a suitable explanation. The surge came only after a satisfying hunt. The whore had been too easy, and although her screams excited him, it still wasn’t the same. No, no, it was the cleverness he had to call upon to lure the bait. It was the seduction of the innocent by the master. Those were the key elements that made all the difference. The whore had been dirty. She didn’t deserve to sleep with the others. He tossed her into a ravine and left her for the wild animals.
He needed a lady.
Colin was gone by the time Alesandra came downstairs the following morning. Flannaghan and Raymond sat with her at the dining room table while she sorted through the huge stack of invitations that had arrived that morning. Stefan was sleeping now because he’d taken the night watch. Alesandra didn’t believe it was necessary for anyone to stay up all night, but Raymond, the senior of the two guards, wouldn’t listen to her. Someone always had to be on the alert in case of trouble, Raymond argued, and since she had placed him in charge, she really should let him do things his way.
“But we are in England now,” she reminded the guard again.
“The general isn’t to be taken lightly,” Raymond countered. “We got here, didn’t we? He could have sent men on the next available ship.”
Alesandra quit arguing with him then and turned her attention to the mound of invitations.
“It’s astonishing to me that so many found out so soon I was in London,” she remarked.
“I’m not surprised,” Flannaghan replied. “I already heard from Cook who heard from the butcher that you’re causing quite a stir. I’m afraid there’s a bit of gossip attached to your name because you’re staying here, but the fact that you have a lady’s maid and two guards with you has taken the sting out of the remarks. There’s also a rather amusing bit of talk . . . nonsense really . . .”
Alesandra was in the process of pulling a note out of an envelope. She paused to look up at Flannaghan. “What bit of nonsense?”
“It’s believed by some that you and my employer are related,” he explained. “They think Colin’s your cousin.”
“Neil Perry mentioned that,” she said. “He also said that there are others who believe Colin’s my lover.”
Flannaghan was properly appalled. She reached out and patted his hand. “It’s all right. People will believe what they want to believe. Poor Colin. He can barely stand to have me around as it is, and if anyone refers to me as his cousin, heaven only knows what he’ll do.”
“How can you say such a thing?” Flannaghan asked. “Milord adores having you here.”
“I’m impressed, Flannaghan.”
“Why is that, Princess?”
“You’ve just told the most outrageous lie with a straight face.”
Flannaghan did
n’t laugh until she smiled. “Well, he would adore having you here if he wasn’t so busy worrying about his ledgers,” he remarked.
He was trying to save face, Alesandra supposed. She nodded, pretending agreement, and then turned her attention back to her task. Flannaghan begged to help. She gave him the duty of affixing her seal to the envelopes. Her crest was most unusual. Flannaghan had never seen anything like it. There was a clear outline of a castle and what appeared to be an eagle or falcon atop one turret.
“Does the castle have a name, Princess?” Flannaghan asked, intrigued by the amazing detail.
“It’s called Stone Haven. My father and mother were married there.”
She answered every question put to her. Flannaghan’s jovial mood lightened her own. He was incredulous when he heard she owned not one but two castles, and his expression made her laugh. He really was a delightful man.
They worked together all morning long, but when the bell chimed one o’clock Alesandra went upstairs to change her gown. She told Flannaghan only that she was expecting more company and wanted to look her best.
Flannaghan didn’t think the princess needed to change a thing. It simply wasn’t possible for her to become any more beautiful than she already was.
Colin came home around seven that evening. He was stiff and irritable from sitting at his desk at the shipping offices for such long hours. He carried his heavy ledgers under his arm.
He found his butler sprawled out on the steps leading upstairs. It was Raymond who opened the front door for him.
Flannaghan looked done in. “What happened to you?” Colin asked.
The butler roused himself from his stupor and stood up. “We had company again today. The princess didn’t give me any warning. I’m not faulting her, of course, and she did tell me she was going to have callers, but I didn’t realize who, and then he was here with his attendants and I spilled the tea Cook prepared. After he left, a dock worker appeared at the door. I thought he was after begging, but Princess Alesandra heard me tell him to go around to the back door and Cook would give him something to eat. She intervened. Why, she was expecting the man, and do you know, milord, she treated him with the same respect as the other.”
“What other?” Colin asked, trying to sort through the servant’s bizarre explanation.
“The prince regent.”
“He was here? I’ll be damned.”
Flannaghan sat back down on the steps. “If my uncle Sterns gets wind of my disgrace, he’ll box my ears.”
“What disgrace?”
“I spilled tea on the prince regent’s jacket.”
“Good for you,” Colin replied. “When I can afford it, you’re getting a raise.”
Flannaghan smiled. He’d forgotten how much his employer disliked the prince regent. “I was quite rattled by his presence, but Princess Alesandra acted as though nothing out of the ordinary was happening. She was very dignified. The prince regent wasn’t his usual pompous self either. He acted like a besotted schoolboy. It was apparent to me he has great affection for the princess.”
Alesandra appeared at the landing above. Colin looked up and immediately frowned. A tightness in his chest made him realize he’d quit breathing.
She looked absolutely beautiful. She was dressed in a silver and white gown that shimmered in the light when she moved. The cut of the dress wasn’t overly revealing, but there was still a hint of flesh visible at the top of her neckline.
Her hair was pinned up with a thin white ribbon threaded through her curls. Wisps of hair curled at the base of her neck.
She looked breathtakingly beautiful. Every nerve in Colin’s body reacted to the sight of her. He wanted to take her into his arms, kiss her, taste her. . . .
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” He snapped out the question in a general’s tone of voice. Anger hid his lust—or so he hoped.
Her eyes widened over the hostility in his demand. “To the opera,” she answered. “The prince regent insisted I take his box tonight. I’m taking Raymond with me.”
“You’re staying home, Alesandra,” Colin stated.
“Princess, you cannot expect me to go inside the opera and sit near the prince regent,” Raymond said, somewhat plaintively for such a large, fearsome man.
“He won’t be there, Raymond,” she explained.
“I still can’t go inside. It wouldn’t be proper. I’ll wait by the carriage.”
“You aren’t going anywhere without me,” Colin announced. He added a hard glare so she would understand he meant what he said.
Her smile was radiant. He realized then she’d had no intention of dragging Raymond into the opera house. She’d cleverly tricked him into accommodating her.
“Do hurry and change, Colin. We don’t want to be late.”
“I hate the opera.”
He sounded like a little boy complaining about having to eat his vegetables. She didn’t have a bit of sympathy for him. She didn’t particularly like the opera either, but she wasn’t going to admit that fact to him. He’d want to stay home then, and she really couldn’t insult the prince regent by not using his box.
“Too bad, Colin. You already gave me your promise to go. Do hurry.”
Alesandra lifted the hem of her gown and came down the stairs. Flannaghan watched her with his mouth gaping open. She smiled when she passed him.
“She moves like a princess,” Flannaghan whispered to his employer.
Colin smiled. “She is a princess, Flannaghan.”
Colin suddenly quit smiling. Alesandra’s dress was a little lower on top than he’d realized. Up close he could see the swell of her bosom.
“You’re going to have to change your gown before we go anywhere,” he announced.
“Why would I want to change?”
He muttered something under his breath. “This gown is too . . . enticing. Do you want every man there boldly staring at you?”
“Do you think they will?”
“Hell, yes.”
She smiled. “Good.”
“You want to attract their notice?” He sounded incredulous.
She looked exasperated. “Of course I want to attract their notice. I’m trying to find a husband, remember?”
“You’re changing your gown.”
“I’ll keep my cloak on.”
“Change.”
Flannaghan’s neck was beginning to ache from turning his head back and forth during the heated debate.
“You’re being ridiculous,” she announced. “And acting terribly old-fashioned.”
“I’m your guardian. I’ll act any damned way I want to act.”
“Colin, be reasonable about this. Valena went to a great deal of trouble and time to get all the wrinkles out.”
He didn’t let her finish. “You’re wasting time.”
She shook her head at him. She wasn’t going to give in, no matter how intimidating his scowl became.
He walked over to her. Before she knew what he was going to do, he grabbed hold of the bodice of her dress and tried to pull the material up to her chin.
“Every time I think your dress needs some adjustment, I’m going to haul it up, just like this, no matter where we are.”
“I’ll change.”
“I thought you might.”
As soon as he let go of her, she turned and ran up the steps. “You’re a horrible man, Colin.”
He didn’t mind her insult. He’d gotten his way, and that was all that mattered. He’d be damned if he’d let the unattached predators ogle her.
It didn’t take him long to wash and dress in formal attire. He was back downstairs in less than fifteen minutes.
She took much longer. She was coming down the stairs again when Colin sauntered in from the dining room. He was eating a green apple. He stopped when he saw her on the staircase. His gaze lingered on the bodice of her gown for a long minute, then he nodded his approval. He smiled with satisfaction. She thought he might very well be gloating over his victo
ry. It was apparent he found the forest green gown suitable. It wasn’t, though. The cut of the bodice was a deep V, but she’d cleverly stuffed a piece of lace down the middle to appease her guardian.
She didn’t choose the gown to deliberately provoke Colin. The dress was the only other option left to her. The other gowns were too wrinkled to wear, and Valena had only just finished getting the creases out of this one.
Colin certainly looked dashing. Black suited him. He tugged on his starched white cravat and devoured his apple at the same time.
He still looked incredibly sexy. The fabric of his jacket was stretched tight across his broad shoulders. His pants were indecently snug, and Alesandra couldn’t help but notice the bulge of muscle in his thighs.
Colin seemed preoccupied for most of the ride to their destination. Alesandra sat across from him in the small carriage with her hands folded together in her lap. His legs crowded her into one corner, and in the darkness his size was far more intimidating. So was his silence.
“I didn’t realize you were friends with the prince regent,” he remarked.
“He isn’t my friend. I only just met him today.”
“Flannaghan told me the prince was taken with you.”
She shook her head. “He was taken with what I am, not who I am.”
“Meaning?”
She let out a little sigh before answering. “It was an official call, Colin. The prince came because I’m a princess. He doesn’t know me personally at all. Now do you understand?”
He nodded. “Most of society will embrace you because of what you are, Alesandra. I’m pleased you understand the shallowness that may exist in the friendships offered to you. It shows you have maturity.”
“Maturity? No, it shows cynicism.”
He smiled. “That too.”
Several minutes passed in silence. Then Colin spoke again. “Did you like him?”
“Who?”
“The prince.”
“I don’t know him well enough to form an opinion.”
“You’re hedging, Alesandra. Tell me the truth.”